Robert Greene

“ Give me but tokens of your highness' trust.
K. of Scots. Thou shalt have gold, honour, and wealth enough;
Win my love, and I will make thee great.
Ateu. These words do make me rich, most noble prince;
I am more proud of them than any wealth.
Did not your grace suppose I flatter you,
Believe me, I would boldly publish this;—
Was never eye that saw a sweeter face,
Nor never ear that heard a deeper wit:
O God, how I am ravish'd in your worth!
K. of Scots. Ateukin, follow me; love must have ease.
Ateu. I'll kiss your highness' feet; march when you please. ”

“ Within the reach of Rasni's government,
To wait as hand-maids on Remilia,
That her attendant train may pass the troop
That gloried Venus at her wedding-day.
K. of Crete. O my Lord, not sister to thy love!
'Tis incest and too foul a fact for kings;
Nature allows no limits to such lust.
Radag. Presumptuous viceroy, dar'st thou check thy lord,
Or twit him with the laws that nature loves?
Is not great Rasni above nature's reach,
God upon earth, and all his will is law?
K. of Crete. O, flatter not, for hateful is his choice,
And sister's love will blemish all his worth. ”

“ Alphonsus victor of Belinus' land,
Yet shalt thou never live to see that day;—
And therefore, Fabius, stand not lingering,
But presently slash off his traitorous head.
Albi. Slash off his head! as though Albinius' head
Were then so easy to be slashèd off:
In faith, sir, no; when you are gone and dead,
I hope to flourish like the pleasant spring.
Beli. Why, how now, Fabius! what, do you stand in doubt
To do the deed? what fear you? who dares seek
For to revenge his death on thee again,
Since that Belinus did command it so? ”

“ Have I not stol'n the beauty of the heavens,
And plac'd it on the feature of my face?
Can any goddess make compare with me,
Or match her with the fair Remilia?
Alvi. The beauties that proud Paris saw from Troy,
Mustering in Ida for the golden ball,
Were not so gorgeous as Remilia.
Remil. I have trick'd my trammels up with richest balm,
And made my perfumes of the purest myrrh:
The precious drugs that Ægypt's wealth affords,
The costly paintings fetch'd from curious Tyre,
Have mended in my face what nature miss'd.
Am I not the earth's wonder in my looks? ”

“ Ralph. Marry, Sirrah Ned, thou shalt put on my cap and my coat and my dagger, and I will put on thy clothes and thy sword; and so thou shalt be my fool.
P. Edw. And what of this?
Ralph. Why, so thou shalt beguile Love; for Love is such a proud scab, that he will never meddle with fools nor children. Is not Ralph's counsel good, Ned?
P. Edw. Tell me, Ned Lacy, didst thou mark the maid,
How lovely in her country weeds she look'd?
A bonnier wench all Suffolk cannot yield:—
All Suffolk! nay, all England holds none such.
Ralph. Sirrah Will Ermsby, Ned is deceived. ”

“ Bacon. Burden, thou wrong'st me in detracting thus;
Bacon loves not to stuff himself with lies:
But tell me 'fore these doctors, if thou dare,
Of certain questions I shall move to thee.
Burd. I will: ask what thou can.
Miles. Marry, sir, he'll straight be on your pick-pack, to know whether the feminine or the masculine gender be most worthy.
Bacon. Were you not yesterday Master Burden, at Henley upon the Thames?
Burd. I was: what then?
Bacon. What book studied you thereon all night?
Burd. I! none at all; I read not there a line.
Bacon. Then, doctors, Friar Bacon's art knows naught. ”

“ Thou gettest no cow at my hand.
Alc. No cow, sir! alas, that word "no cow" goes as cold to my heart as a draught of small drink in a frosty morning! "No cow," sir! Why, alas, alas, Master Usurer, what shall become of me, my wife, and my poor child?
Usurer. Thou gettest no cow of me, knave! I cannot stand prating with you; I must be gone.
Ale. Nay, but hear you, Master Usurer: "no cow!" Why, sir, here's your thirty shillings: I have paid you eighteen-pence a week, and therefore there is reason I should have my cow.
Usurer. What pratest thou? have I not answered thee, thy day is broken? ”

“ Alphon. Thanks, mighty prince; but yet I seek not this:
It is not words must recompense my pain,
But deeds. When first I took up arms for you,
Your promise was, whatever my sword did win
In fight, as his Alphonsus should it crave.
See, then, where lies thy foe Flaminius,
Whose crown my sword hath conquer'd in the field;
Therefore, Belinus, make no long delay,
But that discharge you promis'd for to pay.
Beli. Will nothing else satisfy thy conquering mind
Besides the crown? Well, since thou hast it won,
Thou shalt it have, though far against my will. ”

“ To punish all that live in Nineveh;
For God is just, as he is merciful,
And doubtless plagues all such as scorn repent.
Thou shalt not see the desolation
That falls unto these cursèd Ninevites,
But shalt return to great Jerusalem,
And preach unto the people of thy God
What mighty plagues are incident to sin,
Unless repentance mitigate His ire:
Rapt in the spirit, as thou wert hither brought,
I'll seat thee in Judaea's provinces.
Fear not, Oseas, then to preach the word.
Oseas. The will of the Lord be done! ”

“ In honour of his beauteous Alvida?
Come hither, swain; what is it that thou cravest?
Adam. Faith, sir, nothing, but to speak a few sentences to your worship.
Rasni. Say, what is it?
Adam. I am sure, sir, you have heard of the spirits that walk in the city here.
Rasni. Ay, what of that?
Adam. Truly, sir, I have an oration to tell you of one of them; and this it is.
Alvi. Why goest not forward with thy tale?
Adam. Faith, mistress, I feel an imperfection in my voice, a disease that often troubles me; but, alas, easily mended; a cup of ale or a cup of wine will serve the turn. ”

“ Adam. "A paltry smith"! Why, I'll stand to it, a smith is lord of the four elements; for our iron is made of the earth, our bellows blow out air, our floor holds fire, and our forge water. Nay, sir, we read in the Chronicles that there was a god of our occupation.
First Ruf. Ay, but he was a cuckold.
Adam. That was the reason, sir, he call'd your father cousin. "Paltry smith"! Why, in this one word thou hast defaced their worshipful occupation.
First Ruf. As how?
Adam. Marry, sir, I will stand to it, that a smith in his kind is a physician, a surgeon and a barber. ”

“ The blooms of the almond tree grow in a night, and vanish in a morn; the flies hæmeræ, fair Peggy, take life with the sun, and die with the dew; fancy that slippeth in with a gaze, goeth out with a wink; and too timely loves have ever the shortest length. I write this as thy grief and my folly, who at Fressingfield loved that which time hath taught me to be but mean dainties: eyes are dissemblers, and fancy is but queasy; therefore know, Margaret, I have chosen a Spanish lady to be my wife, chief waiting-woman to the Princess Elinor ”

“ We wail the life that we have led before:
O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
All. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
Rasni. Let not the infants, dallying on the teat,
For fathers' sins in judgment be oppress'd!
K. of Cil. Let not the painful mothers big with child,
The innocents, be punish'd for our sin!
Rasni. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
All. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
Rasni. O Lord of heaven, the virgins weep to thee!
The covetous man sore sorry for his sin,
The prince and poor, all pray before thy throne;
And wilt thou, then, be wroth with Nineveh? ”

“ If such escapes, O London, reign in thee,
Repent, for why each sin shall punish'd be!
Repent, amend, repent, the hour is nigh!
Defer not time! who knows when he shall die?
SCENE IV.—A Public Place in Nineveh.
Enter one clad in Devil's attire.
Devil. Longer lives a merry man than a sad; and because I mean to make myself pleasant this night, I have put myself into this attire, to make a clown afraid that passeth this way: for of late there have appeared many strange apparitions, to the great fear and terror of the citizens.—O, here my young master comes. ”

“ But hear you, sir, hath the king granted you this custom?
First Shoe. King or kaisar, none shall pass this way,
Except King Edward;
No, not the stoutest groom that haunts his court;
Therefore down with your staves.
K. Edw. What were we best to do?
K. James. Faith, my lord, they are stout fellows;
And, because we will see some sport,
We will trail our staves.
K. Edw. Hear'st thou, my friend?
Because we are men of peace and travellers,
We are content to trail our staves.
First Shoe. The way lies before you, go along.
Enter Robin Hood and George-a-Greene, disguised. ”

“ Devil. Come, art thou ready?
Adam. Faith, sir, my old friend, and now goodman [Pg 141] devil, you know you and I have been tossing many a good cup of ale: your nose is grown very rich: what say you, will you take a pot of ale now at my hands? Hell is like a smith's forge, full of water, and yet ever athirst.
Devil. No ale, villain; spirits cannot drink; come, get upon my back, that I may carry thee. ”

“ Alvi. Why, good fellow, the king talks not of drink; he would have thee tell him how this man came dead.
Adam. Dead! nay, I think I am alive yet, and will drink a full pot ere night: but hear ye, if ye be the wench that filled us drink, why, so, do your office, and give us a fresh pot; or if you be the tapster's wife, why, so, wash the glass clean.
Alvi. He is so drunk, my lord, there is no talking with him.
Adam. Drunk! nay, then, wench, I am not drunk: th'art shitten quean to call me drunk; I tell thee I am not drunk, I am a smith, I.
Enter the Smith. ”

“ Is better than an earl, if he be false;"
and
"'tis more credit to men of base degree,
To do great deeds, than men of dignity."
George's words, "Tell me, sweet love, how is thy mind content," "Happy am I to have so sweet a love," and "I have a lovely leman, as bright of blee as is the silver moon," sound like Greene's style matured and softened by experience. Yet that the play is Greene's one would not dare to say. Its present form displays either hasty composition or garbled version, or both, for it is neither consistent nor well integrated. ”

“ Greater than those that think themselves more wise.
K. of Scots. And first, fond king, thy honour doth engrave
Upon thy brows the drift of thy disgrace.
Thy new-vow'd love, in sight of God and men,
Links thee to Dorothea during life;
For who more fair and virtuous than thy wife?
Deceitful murderer of a quiet mind,
Fond love, vile lust, that thus misleads us men
To vow our faiths, and fall to sin again!
But kings stoop not to every common thought:
Ida is fair and wise, fit for a king ”

“ To see if Fortune will so favour me
To view Alphonsus in his happy state.
SCENE III.—Camp of Amurack, near Naples.
Enter Amurack, Crocon, Faustus and Fabius, with the Provost and Turkish Janissaries.
Amu. Fabius, come hither: what is that thou sayest?
What did God Mahound prophesy to us?
Why do our viceroys wend unto the wars
Before their king had notice of the same?
What, do they think to play bob-fool with me?
Or are they wax'd so frolic now of late,
Since that they had the leading of our bands,
As that they think that mighty Amurack
Dares do no other than to soothe them up? ”

“ What, dost thou mock me?
Miles. Not I, sir, but what would you at Brazen-nose?
Erms. Marry, we would speak with Friar Bacon.
Miles. Whose men be you?
Erms. Marry, scholar, here's our master.
Ralph. Sirrah, I am the master of these good fellows; mayst thou not know me to be a lord by my reparrel?
Miles. Then here's good game for the hawk; for here's the master-fool, and a covey of coxcombs: one wise man, I think, would spring you all.
P. Edw. Gog's wounds! Warren, kill him.
War. Why, Ned, I think the devil be in my sheath; I cannot get out my dagger. ”

“ For I am Wily, boy to George-a-Greene,
Who for my master wrought this subtle shift.
K. Edw. What, is it a boy?—what say'st thou to this, Grime?
Grime. Marry, my lord, I think this boy hath
More knavery than all the world besides. ”

“ Upon which Nash comments: "Let other men (as they please) praise the mountain that in seven years brings forth a mouse, or the Italianate pen, that of a packet of pilfries, affordeth the press a pamphlet or two in an age, and then in dignified array, vaunts Ovid's and Plutarch's plumes as their own; but give me the man, whose extemporal vein in any humour, will excel our greatest art master's deliberate thoughts; whose invention quicker than his eye, will challenge the proudest rhetorician, to the contention of like perfection, with like expedition."— (Prefatory Address to Greene's Menaphon.) ”